| Martin Crane | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Occupation | Served in the U.S. Army, was a Detective in the Seattle Police Department, ends the series after coming out of retirement to be a Security Guard in an office building |
| Family | Walt Crane (brother) |
| Spouse(s) | Hester Crane (wife; deceased) Ronee Lawrence (wife) |
| Children | Frasier Crane (son) Niles Crane (son) |
| Relatives | Zora (sister-in-law) Nikos Crane (nephew) Fredrick Crane (grandson, via Frasier) David Crane (grandson, via Niles) Daphne Moon (daughter-in-law, via Niles) |
Det. Martin "Marty" Crane (Ret.) is a fictional character on the American television show Frasier. He was played by actor John Mahoney. Martin is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane.
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Although Martin is first mentioned in an episode of the sitcom Cheers, his life history is mainly expanded on in Frasier. In an eighth season Cheers episode ("Two Girls For Every Boyd"), Frasier claims that his father is dead and was a scientist in life. These comments are elaborated on Frasier as the result of estrangement between Martin and Frasier at the time. (Mahoney also appeared in Cheers as a piano player/jingle writer.)
The son of a police officer,[1] Martin was born in Seattle in 1932[2] and is a lifelong resident of the city. At the age of 19, Martin joined the U.S. Army, and saw combat in the Korean War. After returning home Martin joined the Seattle Police Department, and would remain in this capacity until being forced to retire due to injury. He served in various roles including several years on mounted patrol,[2] and attained the position of Homicide Detective. He was married to Hester Rose Crane, a crime scene psychiatrist whom he met in 1952[3] at a murder scene.[4] They remained married until her death in 1987,[3] some six years before Martin moves in with Frasier.[5]
Hester rejected his first marriage proposal, but the two married when she became pregnant with Frasier.[6] The marriage was mostly a happy and loving one, but there were numerous issues; in particular, Hester had an affair with a family friend following a particularly difficult period in the marriage. Martin blamed himself for his wife's infidelity, which occurred about 30 years before he moves in with Frasier, and tells his sons that he had been the adulterer. The revelation brings Martin and Frasier, who after he learns the truth confesses that Lilith also cheated on him, closer together.[7]
Martin was greatly affected by Hester's death, an event that seems to have increased his estrangement from Niles and Frasier, and certainly contributed to his reluctance to engage in relationships with other women. For much of their adult lives, Martin, Frasier, and Niles seem to have had a rather distant and estranged relationship with one another.
Martin has one sibling, a brother named Walt (who is married to a Greek woman named Zora), and one nephew, Walt and Zora's son Nikos. Martin and Walt are estranged, thanks to Zora's hostility toward Frasier's meddling in Nikos' life. While they reconcile in the episode "Beware of the Greeks" (season 5 of Frasier), it is unclear how long the reconciliation lasts, and Walt appears in only one episode. There is a discrepancy in the storyline, however, as Martin states earlier, "I never had a brother."[8] However, it could be implied Martin said that because the two were not on good terms.
Two years before the series began, Martin was looking forward to retirement[9] when he was shot in the line of duty after interrupting a robbery attempt in a convenience store. Niles visited him, but the two had drifted apart. Although he hoped to return to work in a few weeks the injury left a bullet in his hip, forcing him to walk with a cane for the rest of his life, and to retire from the police force.[10]
His injury inhibits him from living alone, and forces him to accept Frasier's invitation to live with him upon Frasier's return to Seattle.[9] Martin soon grows close to his physical therapist Daphne Moon, and steadily becomes closer to both his sons, despite their different tastes and personalities. Because both his sons share very little in common with him in terms of hobbies and personalities, he also grows to be very close to Frasier's producer Roz. He invites her to his poker games on numerous occasions, and responds warmly to her laid back, "one of the guys" personality. On one of his birthdays, she presents him with a six pack of beers, and this turns out to be the only gift he seems to genuinely enjoy that day. In many ways, because she shares so much of his own interests, he seems to view her as a good friend. In turn, Roz responds to his feelings.
Romantically, Martin is reluctant to begin dating again,[5] but while living with Frasier he has a number of relationships with various women.[11] In at least one episode, he reveals that he is strongly attracted to Asian women. Although he is never shown dating one during the show, he has fond memories of "dating" during his time as a soldier in Korea. By the end of the show, Martin reacquaints himself with Ronee Lawrence, a woman who, as a teenager, babysat Frasier and Niles. They become involved in a romance, which escalates into a marriage proposal. The ceremony takes place in the final episode of the series, establishing a new chapter in Martin's life.
Unlike his sons, Martin Crane is very down-to-earth and unpretentious. His tastes are generally simpler than those of his sons and reflect popular culture to a greater degree. Martin prefers drinking beer (specifically Ballantine Ale[12]) to wine or spirits, for example, and prefers watching action movies and professional sports to the opera and theatre preferred by Frasier and Niles. While Martin occasionally visits Café Nervosa to see his sons, he dislikes its elaborate and expensive drinks and often visits a bar, McGinty's, with his best friend, Duke. He is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, the Seattle SuperSonics,[13] Seattle Seahawks, and the Montreal Canadiens he often displays an autographed photo of Ken Griffey, Jr.,[14] and always listens to Bulldog Briscoe's Gonzo Sports Show on KACL. He likes the music of Frank Sinatra (Episode "Three Dates And A Breakup"). In the earlier seasons especially, most of the comedy and drama of the series stems from the culture clashes between the refined sons and the blue-collar father (the sons frequently considering themselves superior in both taste and intellectual matters to their father, Niles once admitted that he often doesn't listen to Martin's advice because he "doesn't have any credentials"), and the struggles between Frasier and Martin in sharing an apartment. Among one of the disputes between Frasier and Martin is a decades-old, well-worn[15] recliner that Martin owns; Frasier is appalled by its appearance in his living room. Initially Frasier figures the perfect present for his father is to purchase him an expensive leather recliner that replaces Martin's old one. This greatly upsets Martin when he explains the sentimental value of the chair to Frasier, who feels extreme guilt and proceeds to get the recliner back for his father and returns the new one.[16] Later, Frasier accidentally destroys the chair, and to make amends has a replica built at great expense (remarking that, ironically, it was now the most expensive piece of furniture in his apartment).
As a result, Martin has a complex and frequently difficult relationship with both his sons, both of whom take after their mother, and have little interest in the traditionally masculine pursuits that interest Martin, such as sports and outdoor activities, just as Martin himself finds little of interest in their pursuits, such as cooking, collecting antiques and opera. Martin also places little stock in (and is frequently and loudly dismissive of) established psychiatry, something which - as both of his sons are passionate psychiatrists - also undoubtedly contributed to the rift between them. On a few occasions, however, he actually exhibits genuine psychological know-how and intellect, surprising Frasier and Niles (although Martin usually waves off these situations and thinks nothing of it; he can, at times, attribute this to his listening to Frasier's radio show). Martin also frequently clashed with and was vocally dismissive of both of his sons' romantic interests (in particular their wives, Maris, and Lilith), which also added to the bad feeling between the men. Martin does not hesitate in telling his sons of their attitudes, on one occasion telling them that their mother never displayed snobbery.
Because they share similar blue collar, easygoing personalities, as well as an interest in sports, Martin gets along very well with Frasier's close friend Sam Malone. When Sam visits Frasier, Sam and Martin bond over sports trivia. Martin was also a fan of Sam's when Sam was a professional baseball player, and says Sam Malone is "the most important person to set foot in this apartment." Martin also bonded with Norm Peterson on a trip to Boston in "Cheerful Goodbyes". (Martin: "Wow, that's some mug callous you've got there." Norm: "Judging from your grip, I'd say you were a can man.")[17]
A dramatic irony frequently shown in the series is that while Frasier and Niles may possess more intellectual knowledge and refinement than Martin, it is in fact Martin who is a wiser and more pragmatic individual. Certainly, Martin possesses greater reserves of common sense and experience than his two sons, and while his sons may be trained in psychiatry, it is frequently Martin's advice in any scenario that is more sound. Much to Frasier's consternation, Martin displays a rather shrewd native intelligence in playing chess, despite his lack of formal education, and he bests Frasier in all but one game (that Martin likely threw just to satisfy his son). He is usually quick to foresee the catastrophes and crises that Frasier and Niles' various plans and actions will result in, and is capable of advising the best way to avoid this - however, their senses of superiority, stubbornness and neuroses frequently ensure that Frasier and Niles will disregard his advice and blunder into chaos anyway. This can lead to Martin at times taking an almost gleeful delight in the misfortunes and downfalls of his sons, and he is often quick to point out that he told them so. However, Martin is prone to letting his stubbornness get in the way of happiness, that Frasier often helps him solve, such as forcing Martin to acknowledge his feelings for one romantic partner, Sherry Dempsey.
Martin is a gruff and taciturn man who finds it difficult to express himself emotionally - in particular to his family and loved ones, with whom he can be quite withdrawn and remote. He often comes across as curmudgeonly and ungrateful to Frasier for taking care of him. In the episode "Breaking the Ice", for example, he finds it easier to say the words "I love you" to both his dog Eddie and Duke than he does to either of his sons, when he finally does so, Martin has first heavily imbibed of alcohol, and cannot look Frasier or Niles in the eye when he does so. He is certainly less comfortable with emotional exchanges than either of his sons, who find it much easier to express themselves in such a fashion. His blunt, open manner can make him seem tactless and insensitive. He is quite stubborn, and is given to holding grudges. He has stated that he believes justice should be the same for everyone when he refused to help Niles take care of a legal problem for Maris; he has, nevertheless used his position as an ex-policeman for preferential treatment on occasion, such as when he flashed his badge to a border guard in order to alleviate his suspicions.
For all this, Martin is portrayed as an extremely likable and caring individual. He is usually enthusiastic about making new friends, and although he may find it difficult to express his feelings to his sons, he clearly loves them both, remaining proud of and devoted to them, and bitterly resenting any implication that this might not be the case. When Niles goes to a costume party as Martin and is asked to name his biggest disappointment in life, Niles' response (in character and slightly inebriated) turns this into a speech of his distaste for his and Frasier's pretentiousness, snobbery, and lack of athleticism before finally saying "if I had to choose my two biggest disappointments." Martin quickly cuts him off, angered at being portrayed "as a drunken judgmental jackass", and tells Niles that, while he and Frasier weren't what he was expecting, he's always been proud of them.
Spiritually, Martin is also hard to pinpoint. He appears to have been raised a Christian, and to possibly hold Christian beliefs. Soon after moving in with Frasier, he is surprised to see his sons not say grace before they eat.[18] However, as the series went on this no longer becomes an aspect. It is also not clear if he attends religious services regularly, if he did at one point and left a church, although he appears to have been Protestant since he claims to have been married by a Minister (which, given the time he was married, was impossible for a Catholic). There is a time that while walking past a church he is spotted by a priest who asks him to perform in a Christmas Pageant, a task which he reluctantly accepts.
In the episode featuring actor Michael Keaton as a shyster whose con of the moment was parading as a paralyzed born-again evangelist, Martin accepts an invitation to watch a sermon preached by Keaton's character. This is one of just three times in which Martin is seen at a religious event, the other ones being the bar mitzvah of his grandson, Frederick, and the funeral of Frasier's Great Aunt.
When Daphne and Niles got married, Martin commented that he favored a church wedding, but respected their choice to be married by a judge.
Since Frasier mentioned in an episode of Cheers that he was Episcopalian, it is assumed that Martin and Niles are Episcopalian as well; however continuity issues within Cheers throw this conjecture into jeopardy, as Frasier also mentions in a Cheers episode that he had no formal religious upbringing (in one episode, he stated that his father was a scientist who died before Frasier became a psychiatrist).
Politically, Martin has complex views. He once referred to a Senator as a "bleeding heart soft on crime" and backed a conservative candidate for Congress whom Frasier referred to as "Himmler without the whimsy." He has shown concern and joked about global warming. He also has shown sympathy with former Democratic Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. In one episode, Niles asks Martin for his gun, but Martin replies that he doesn't believe that civilians should be armed, seeming to imply that he supports gun control (though this may be due at least in part to the fact that he was shot by an armed robber and that his son has poor hand-eye coordination). Despite being disturbed at the idea of Frasier or Niles being homosexual, he is willing to accept it, and even pretends to be homosexual once to avoid an aggressive woman.
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